It’s Nice That No.7

While It’s Nice That No.7 is at the printers, and excitement here slowly builds around its return, we thought we’d offer further insight into the reasons why and how we’ve evolved the magazine’s design, as well as a run through of this issue’s wonderful content. It’s available to order now, don’t forget, and will launch officially on Monday…

Design

It’s Nice That No.7 has undergone a sparkling – and in some places quite dramatic – redesign. The changes come courtesy of our new design steward Ray O’Meara, an RCA graduate, former Kilimanjaro designer and current The White Review art director, who’s experience and talent have combined to create an object at once beautiful and accessible. Evolution in the magazine’s design is echoed by an evolution in editorial structure too, which we hope will make it easier for viewers to view and readers to read. It’s a simple concept, but one we firmly believe in.

Content

Although we’ve continued with our all-embracing approach, this issue has inadvertently – but rather appropriately – become about the bright future of publishing. i-D founder Terry Jones and Nieves editor-in-chief Benjamin Sommerhalder both celebrate the co-existence of printed and digital content. And the fantastic documentary photographer Martin Parr talks excitedly about the recent surge in sales of photobooks, before going on to champion the internet despite its tendency towards offering imagery for free.

We’ve also taken a peak behind the scenes of four of London’s most impressive independent publishing houses – Book Works, Four Corners, Nobrow and Landfill – and, in an ongoing bookshelves feature, three of England’s most talented young writers – Stuart Evers, Rosa Rankin-Gee and Richard Milward – reveal their wide-ranging literary inspirations.

There’s more too. To mark the opening of her latest show at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, we spoke to artist and explorer Taryn Simon, who talked candidly about living life in the real world. The brilliantly creative Amsterdam-based duo Lernert & Sander talk about the importance of mixing humour with naughtiness. Our online editor Rob Alderson importantly questions the power of art as a regeneration tool. And, after a conversation about winter, filmmaker Carl Burgess presents a series of hyper-real renders bright enough to make your eyes pop!

And then there’s everything else: a free comic by the wonderful illustrator Sophy Hollington, work by some of the most talented artists, designers and architects currently practicing, a wonderful short story by Seth Fried, and the perfect ending by illustrator Keith Shore and writer Erin Wylie.

Book giant Taschen is publishing a glorious new book that explores the 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it’s been designed by M/M making it that little bit more special. The film completely revolutionised the sci-fi genre, and this book takes an in-depth look at the lead actors, production designers and special-effects guys. Written by Piers Bizony, the book wouldn’t be complete without an insight into the brains behind the whole operation, writer Arthur C Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick, with their creative processes revealed.

New York Magazine has put 35 of of the 46 women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault on the cover of its most recent issue. Inside are interviews and portraits of the “Unwelcome Sisterhood” shot by Amanda Demme. Alongside senior editor Noreen Malone’s essay, the magazine has published individual accounts of the womens’ stories and six video interviews online.

I’d love nothing more than to be a fly on the wall in the meeting at Milanese tire company Pirelli in 1964, when somebody like the work experience guy first suggested making a raunchy calendar. “Except, we’ll only use supermodels,” I imagine he’d have muttered nervously, to the big dogs smoking cigars in their leather chairs. “We’ll get all the best photographers to shoot it, and we’ll only give it to VIPs and really important clients.”

Back in 2013 photographer Martin Zähringer launched a platform designed by Charlotte Heal to give seen-but-not-heard models a soapbox to stand on. Is In Town has been running online ever since, featuring shoots with fresh-faced up-and-comers – mostly shot by Martin and a small cast of collaborators – and accompanying conversational interviews. The model-driven project has also quite recently moved into print with a black and white publication and the second issue, designed by Laura Tabet, is fresh off the press with five covers all shot by different photographers. The magazine is distributed by Antenne Books and is stocked everywhere from Colette to the The Photographers’ Gallery.

Jake Green is an old chum of the site, and recently we’ve been enamoured with his look at London’s Evangelical churches. But it’s the church of illustration he’s been bowing down to recently, and all our prayers have been answered in the form of The Bookmaker’s Studio. The sweet little tome brings together beautiful photographs shot inside the studios of children’s illustrators, and features text by another old chum of It’s Nice That, James Cartwright. “It’s not often you get the chance to go and hang out with some of your heroes, so the images we’ve created capture our excitement at being allowed into these otherwise unseen spaces to witness such a variety of personalities, styles and techniques,” says Jake.

In the ten years since it first launched, Rapha has established a solid reputation for itself as the touchstone for all things concerned with cycling; whether that be a book of cycling photography, Kings of Pain, a series of stunning short films directed by brilliant Andrew Telling or the very best high-end gear any self-respecting athlete-on-two-wheels could wish to wear.